US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims decline to 281K vs. 290K expected

• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims in US declined by 10,000.
• US Dollar Index stays relatively quiet below 94.00 after the data.

There were 281,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending October 23, the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) revealed on Thursday. This reading followed the previous print of 291,000 (revised from 290,000) and came in better than the market expectation of 290,000.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index continues to fluctuate below 94.00 after this data.

Additional takeaways

"The 4-week moving average was 299,250, a decrease of 20,750 from the previous week's revised average."

"The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7 percent for the week ending October 16."

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 16 was 2,243,000, a decrease of 237,000 from the previous week's revised level."